So last year a fascinating study came out in the
Journal of Science from a team led by Betsy Sparrow at Columbia.
And in this study, the scientists showed that people who used Google and who thought that
they would be able to access information on a computer later on didn't remember it as
well as the people who didn't think they would have access to it. So you have one kind
of key variable: Do you think you'll be able to use your computer later on to find
this information? If the answer is no, you're going to remember it. If the answer is yes,
you're not going to remember it, but you will remember where to find it. So you'll remember
where it was stored; you'll remember what the folder was; you'll remember how to
access it on the computer. So it's not that you're not remembering anything; it's that
you're remembering a very different thing. Do you use your memory to store the actual
piece of information? Do you use it to store the retrieval process?
So I take a few things from this. Thing one,
technology can be very bad for our memory if we let it be bad for it. So if we always
rely on it and if we have this attitude of, oh, I don't need to remember this because
I'll always be able to look it up, you won't remember it. And then you won't
have that knowledge in your head and then you won't have anything in your attic to
play with; you won't have that knowledge base. You won't be able to be imaginative
like Holmes. You won't be able to reach those conclusions because your attic will
be pretty bare. But we can also use it to enhance our memory by saying, okay, I know
that there are these great technological benefits. Why don't I use that to create this virtual
storage space for myself? So Holmes does this, too. Holmes has files that he accesses and
he says, "Watson, you know, look up my file for this case. Look up my file for this case."
So he remembers that he has the file. He remembers that there was a case. He doesn't necessarily
remember all of these details.
So you can think of Google as this vastly expanded Holmesian filing system. So you can
use it for exactly that. What are the things that I want to remember and that I want to
be able to access later on and focus on remembering how to access them? And then keep your mind
space for those things that you think will be important for you to know at any point.
So the exercise that I like to say for myself is, if I were on a desert island with no power,
or I don't even have to go to a desert island... in Hurricane Sandy, I had no power,
no Internet, no cell phone service. Nothing. So if Hurricane Sandy strikes again, and I
don't have anything, do I have everything that I need immediately in my head? What are
those things that I really can't rely on a computer for?